any valeters!urgent help needed

[PS autoshine]

got my first proper valet tom.its a lexus rx 400(ithink).the woman who own it usually takes it to lexus(£70 a pop).what do you think she'll expect.
i was gonna wash snow foam,two bucket,dry etc.get wheels really clean and polish with autoglym alloy wheel seal.dresstyre. clean interior plastic.treat exterior plastic.hoover interior(as no wet vac or extraction cleaner yet).then a coat of wax(not polish).clean glass.will this be ok.not really sure what to charge either.is this ok? seats are leather never cleaned leather before so i'll get somethin for that tom morn(need advice on that)
got another car after that.all this is out the back of me van.i nervous any advice.don't really wanna buy anythin else at this short notice from halfords etc.as i wanna get a chemical kit from autobrite.
please help everyone has to start somewhere and this could be regular business.im starting part time and want to make it my full time job.ive invested a lot in my w/tank,pressure washer and gennie so theres no going back.hope theright person for helps on now.thanks in advance.

 

[fUbAr]

depends on the condition/colour of the Lexus to be honest.

If the paintwork is a state, just a wax isn't going to improve it.

 

[LegoHead]

first thing you should do before undertaking is to ask what she wants done.

If your contract to her is valet it, I would just clean, dry and hoover inside.

 

[PS autoshine]

depends on the condition/colour of the Lexus to be honest.

If the paintwork is a state, just a wax isn't going to improve it.

its black arrgh.shouldn't be that bad though if its been done before.i've got a pc but wont have all day to spend on it,when i get into correction im just gonna use carlack(klasse 3-1).but wont have time for that.

 

[PS autoshine]

first thing you should do before undertaking is to ask what she wants done.

If your contract to her is valet it, I would just clean, dry and hoover inside.

that sounds good.

 

[Josh@Renparts]

yeh but you have to make her impressed then she will come back imo. if its a cream carpet get some AG interior cleaner and wipe over any stains that are left over.

 

[PS autoshine]

yeh but you have to make her impressed then she will come back imo. if its a cream carpet get some AG interior cleaner and wipe over any stains that are left over.

i really hope its not cream.

 

[Brand86]

As said I would find out hat she wants doing first before starting and agree a price. Work out a minimum level of services you will include, anything extra you want to do to make a favourable impression is up to you.

And as Paul said, no point waxing if your not polishing. Even just AG SRP should make a better finishing than just waxing for several reasons.

 

[Rich]

Have to check what they are expecting for there cash, no point busting a gut on one hand but even worse doing a job that does not reach there expectations.

Changes are a valet at the dealer will consist of a clean inside out, some interior dressing, a polish/wax in a one stage type product to clean up the paint and leave some protection behind in a single step. Plus some dressing on the tyres.

Black Lexus paint is not clearcoated IIRC so expect to kill some foam pads and towels on it ! It could be a nightmare Black is the worst colour of them all, the fact it has been done before may make it worse !

If they just want the paint protected the wax is an important step.

 

[PS autoshine]

cheer rich.it was actually blue,lol. just got told it was black by someone else it was that bad. got some repeat buiness though great.
posted thesame thread on detailing world and got a bit of a slating.
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=55160

 

[The Big Yin]

Have to admit you should listen to some of the comments on DW Its all about impression and quality of work , price is important but people will pay for quality esp if they have expensive cars. I did valeting part time last year for 6 months and there will always be people willing to do the job for much less than you but its all about word of mouth spreading. I would suggest you forget about using chemicals from Halfords and get chatting to your local AutoSmart, Nielson, AutoGlm reps as their stuff is gonna work out cheaper in the long run

 

[PS autoshine]

Have to admit you should listen to some of the comments on DW Its all about impression and quality of work , price is important but people will pay for quality esp if they have expensive cars. I did valeting part time last year for 6 months and there will always be people willing to do the job for much less than you but its all about word of mouth spreading. I would suggest you forget about using chemicals from Halfords and get chatting to your local AutoSmart, Nielson, AutoGlm reps as their stuff is gonna work out cheaper in the long run

yeah mate,gonna get myself sorted for chemicals through autobrite.i feel sick just walking into halfords but not much in the area.i've got enough in the bank to buy a bulk lot but would have to do business otherwise im in the crap.the learning curves quitesteep at the moment.why did you stop?

 

[Gaz_]

We charged a friend of a friend £100 to PC a BMW 1 series. It took me a day of hard PCing. Never again. The proplem i have is i try and get the finish as good as i'd want it, ie pretty much perfect

 

[The Big Yin]

Have to admit you should listen to some of the comments on DW Its all about impression and quality of work , price is important but people will pay for quality esp if they have expensive cars. I did valeting part time last year for 6 months and there will always be people willing to do the job for much less than you but its all about word of mouth spreading. I would suggest you forget about using chemicals from Halfords and get chatting to your local AutoSmart, Nielson, AutoGlm reps as their stuff is gonna work out cheaper in the long run

yeah mate,gonna get myself sorted for chemicals through autobrite.i feel sick just walking into halfords but not much in the area.i've got enough in the bank to buy a bulk lot but would have to do business otherwise im in the crap.the learning curves quitesteep at the moment.why did you stop?

Theres little money in Valeting plus i could not commit full time to it and just got fed up doing jobs for pennies. I had some good pc work towards the end and enjoyed that far more so gonna do a little bit of that. I had some good contracts with local businesses too but was undercut by someone else and I couldn't take the hit so they stopped its very competitive out their but i have managed to keep a hold of a couple of clients for pc'ing in the spring tho. You will have a local Neilson,Autosmart rep in your area use them, if you run out you can just give em a call and out they come autobrite are good but not any cheaper than the others

Drop me a pm if you wanna sound me out about anything plus i can give you a good website for help and advise from valeters if your serious.

 

[Diesel_Power]

When you say theres not alot of money in valeting, surely if you commited full time and got more clients in your book theres a good living to be made?

Id of thought a full valet, no correction work would take a day at the maximum, £100 per valet minus your costs of about £10-£20 for products and transportation absolute maximum. Based on a client base of approximately 100 clients who get a valet once every 6 months thats about 15 clients per month or about 3/4 per week, approx £1500 pm minus £150 for costs which leaves you with £1350 before tax for working 4 days out of 7. If a good correction came along you could make considerably more.

I think theres a good living to be made if your good at what you do and can get clients in the book. As said there will be people who undercut you but thats where you have to let the quality and care of your work be worth that extra £20 or so.

All that said, i wont be turning to valteing anytime soon.

 

[Brand86]

I did valeting at a dealers for a year and its soul destroying. You have to use inferior products to keep a healthy profit margin, and don't have long enough to get any car up to what is possible. The dealer valet we had was £250 and I can count the amount of full valets we got this way on one hand. Most work was valets for sales and we only got about £45 for that!

Basically, we had to work VERY hard in all conditions for work that wasn't satisfying. Then there was always a threat of being undercut and losing the contract. Being a detailer is the way to go if you want to do that sort of thing,my boss had been valeting for 16 years and hated the world.